In Autumn 2024, we held a competition for the design of the EU’s official uniform at Expo 2025 Osaka to support young Europeans studying fashion design at post-secondary institutions, as well as recent graduates of fashion design-related programmes across the EU. Although it was incredibly difficult to choose only one design from the many that were submitted, we announced Slovakia’s Tomáš Maliňak as the winner in December.
Following the announcement of his win, Maliňak worked for months under the guidance of renowned Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga (founder of the seminal fashion label ANREALAGE) to enhance and realise his original design.
Inspired by the theme of the Expo (‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’) and the EU Pavilion (‘Nurturing Tomorrow’), and with the spirit of the EU and the guiding values of the New European Bauhaus at its heart, Maliňak’s design was not only aesthetically beautiful and unmistakably European, but also sustainable and inclusive.
Neutral in terms of gender, body shape, and colour palette, and consisting of a button-down denim vest, knitted polo shirt, and high-waisted denim trousers, the official uniform employed advanced production technologies (e.g. pattern generation and three-dimensional visualisation) and certified-sustainable fabric for the purposes of both form and function. Its lightweight and breathable 3D-patterned fabric (made of 100% cotton), for example, allowed for comfortable wearing in all types of weather and a relaxed silhouette that can flatter any body type, while the EU-inspired patterns and symbols hand-embroidered in brocade throughout added a touch of the bespoke and further made for a thoroughly European design embodying, in Maliňak’s own words, ‘futuristic timelessness’.
On that note, we are proud to say that Maliňak’s design was produced entirely in Europe using eco-friendly material. Honouring Maliňak’s Slovakian heritage and the fact that he is currently pursuing a degree in Prague, the uniforms were hand-sewn in Slovakia using fabric sourced from Czechia.
Specifications
| Polo Shirt | Trousers | Vest |
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